REALITY: Matt Wieters was 2-for-5 with a Home Run and a triple on Sunday. He was also 2-for-3 on Friday with 2 RBI.
PERCEPTION: It appears that Wieters has not missed a step since he last played in May 2014. He is doing much better early in his return than I think any of us would have thought. I know I thought he would start slowly, just as J.J. Hardy has in his return to action.
[Related: Watch Wieters homer and triple in his return]
But Wieters playing well only makes this team better. Yes, I am disappointed to see that Caleb Joseph will not be getting regular playing time with Wieters back in the lineup. But if Wieters is playing this well, you can’t be too disappointed.
If Jimmy Paredes is playing well, than you have a strong DH and a great catcher. If Paredes is not hitting, then you can slide Wieters into the DH slot and Joseph can get back in the lineup. These are good problems to have, as opposed to earlier in the season, when the lack of good options was a bad problem.
As the Orioles continue to get healthy, this team will improve. We have yet to see a full Orioles team in 2015. Hardy is back, but still not at full strength. Wieters is back and looking good. Bud Norris is back and looked pretty good Sunday.
The team is still waiting on Kevin Gausman to return, as well as Jonathan Schoop. When that all happens, we’ll finally be able to see how good this team can be in 2015. The issue becomes time. We can’t wait too long.
REALITY: Ryan Flaherty leads the Orioles in On-Base Percentage at .350.
PERCEPTION: I feel like I go through this every couple of weeks, but no player takes the flack that Flaherty takes from the fans of his team. To me, he might be the second best utility player in the majors (Ben Zobrist being first). He can play just about anywhere in the field, and he gets the job done at the plate too.
When you look at second basemen who have played in at least 26 games, Flaherty has the 4th highest OBP in the American League, and he has the 11th highest batting average in the AL.
Yes, Schoop is the starting 2B for the Orioles when he is healthy, but Flaherty could be the Utility guy for just about any team in baseball, and frankly, he would be a starting 2B for a good number of teams.
So let’s stop talking down to the guy. He doesn’t cost the team too much money and he gets the job done.
REALITY: The Orioles have the second highest percentage of walks that have scored.
PERCEPTION: It is no secret that Orioles’ pitchers walk way too many batters.
They have walked the 6th most hitters in MLB and second most in the AL. That’s a problem because those walks are leading to runs. And when you aren’t scoring (as the Orioles aren’t), allowing the other team to score because of your own mistakes is just not going to work.
Sunday, TJ McFarland was facing Carlos Santana in the 8th inning. Jim Palmer on MASN says that anyone who has ever played the game at this level knows that with the lead the Orioles had, you cannot walk the hitter. Throw a strike and let him hit it, but don’t walk him. McFarland’s next pitch is ball four, way outside.
That is a perfect example of what has happened all season with this club. Throw strikes and let your defense do their job. Walks are not good for anyone, and they are no one’s fault except the pitcher.
REALITY: The American League East has three teams currently on three-game win streaks or more.
PERCEPTION: The New York Yankees are on a season-high six-game winning streak. The Toronto Blue Jays have won five in a row. The Boston Red Sox just completed their first series sweep of the season, by winning three straight against the Oakland Athletics.
The Orioles are the only team below .500 in their last 10 games in the division, going 4-6 in those games.
The Birds are tied with the Red Sox at 5.5 games out of first place.
Three of the teams in the East are still below .500 for the season, but has the East finally found a rhythm? Could the AL East be turning things around from its horrendous start?
It’s a big week (or two) for the Orioles as they have three games each against the Red Sox and Yankees at home (with an interleague home-and-home series in the middle), before going on the road for games in Toronto and Boston.
The Orioles need to start winning series if they are going to make up any ground in the division. This team has never been a win-streak type of team. I can’t even remember the last time they won more than four in a row. But last year they were successful because they won a lot of series. If this year’s team can start winning two-out-of-three, as they did this weekend in Cleveland, they will be okay. But that has to start Tuesday.
